Sweetmess

This morning, I was tongue-tied. And, as a nice side dish to tongue-tied, I also had brain freeze. Literally, I was having a hard time remembering words and, when my memory actually decided to kick to the "on" position, I couldn't properly say what I had remembered.

In the midst of this conundrum, I found myself trying to call Nickels "sweetness". This isn't a word I use real often*, so I was kind of out of practice. And, the bloomin' thing came out "sweetMess".

He didn't catch it, but, immediately my brain fired up thinking about my new word.

I'm positive that's what God calls me at times. A sweet mess. Sometimes, when I'm really in a bad spot, I'm sure He thinks of me as a sour mess.

But, regardless of who I am or how I'm acting at the moment, life really is just messy. I say that not so much to complain, but more to confirm that my life has proved the Bible is right on this.

We aren't guaranteed a rose garden or a smooth, straight path or a snow-capped mountain with a sweet chalet on top. Instead, we're promised that stuff is going to happen. It's the stuff that solidifies our relationship with God and makes us who we are and causes us to fall to our knees and have conversations with Him.

Contrary to what some might think, God doesn't cause our life to be messy (even though He could if He wanted to!) In fact, He tried to create paradise on Earth for us and we humans decided, in our wisdom, that paradise wasn't enough; we wanted MORE! And when we disobeyed we opened messy to the nth degree. Our lives are not the way He wanted them to be; they are what we caused them to become way back in the Garden.

And even though I've had my share of heartache in this life, I wouldn't say "no thanks" to being born, even knowing all I do about life. For all the hard times, there sure are moments that eclipse the nasty stuff and, literally, take my breath away.

To say that I've been driven to God over the course of my life would be putting it mildly. Sometimes my ride has been a clunker that I wasn't sure would make it over the molehill I made a mountain. Sometimes a limousine, complete with fancy champagne and caviar and plenty of celebrating and laughter. Other times, it's been an SUV with a slight odor of spit-up mingled with Eau d'McDonald's. However I've found my way back to God, I've (eventually) been glad for the journey.

God truly CAN make a blessing of a mess. But we have to be willing to trust Him with our heartache and pain and feelings of helplessness.

It's in those times when we ask Him to take our lives and make them worthwhile, that we see we are all really His sweetmesses. And, His sweetnesses!

You know what? I'm guessing that, more days than not, He looks upon us and whispers the words "Good job. Look at how well you gave up that mess to me. Now, let's get to work."

And the thought of that? Well, it just warms the sweet mess that is me, all the way to the bottom of my pea-pickin' little heart.


*I favor honey, sweetheart, darlin' and dude.